An investigative panel charged yesterday that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s son lied to probers when he denied lobbying the U.N. staff on behalf of a company that won a lucrative contract to inspect the Iraq oil-for-food program.

The charges against Kojo Annan, 30, were the most damning findings of a blistering 800-page report by the U.N.-appointed Independent Inquiry Commission of its probe of the oil-for-food scandal – which Kofi Annan conceded yesterday was “deeply embarrassing to all of us.”

The five-volume document said the panel recently obtained bombshell evidence revealing that despite his repeated denials, Kojo Annan was in direct contact with U.N. procurement officials – and even his father’s personal assistant – while the Swiss firm Cotecna, which had hired him as a consultant, was bidding to get the Iraq contract.

“Memoranda and telephone records show that Kojo Annan used his contacts at the United Nations to assist Cotecna’s effort to obtain the Iraq inspection contract – most significantly that Kojo Annan placed several calls to the U.N. procurement department at critical times in the bidding process in the fall of 1998,” the report said.

The commission said that the phone records and Cotecna communications “refute” statements Kojo made in an interview with committee investigators in October, and in a follow-up letter in March, that he played no role in Cotecna’s bid for the contract to inspect shipments of humanitarian goods.

The commission also uncovered previously undisclosed payments worth $75,000 Cotecna made to companies connected to Kojo Annan after he resigned, and issued a second “adverse finding,” blasting the younger Annan for using his father’s name and diplomatic status to save $20,644 in taxes and customs duties on the purchase of a new Mercedes.

Despite Kojo Annan’s dangerously close contacts with the United Nations, including calls to his father’s personal assistant Wagaye Assebe, the commission said it found no evidence that the secretary-general was aware that Cotecna was bidding on the Iraq contract or that he played a role in the company receiving it.

But the report faults Kofi Annan, as well as members of the Security Council and other U.N. agencies, for failing to properly manage the $64 billion aid program that allowed “illicit, unethical and corrupt” behavior to flourish – and gave Saddam Hussein the green light to rip off $10.2 billion.

Also receiving harsh criticism was U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette, who was the official directly charge of the program, She faces possibly dismissal, according to diplomatic sources.

“The deputy secretary-general, apparently unsure of her role, did not supply the degree of leadership and oversight that the complex program required,” said the panel, headed by former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volcker.

On other aspects of the scandal, the commission said it found no evidence that Iraq was successful in its campaign to steer bribes to the elder Annan through South Korean hustler Tongsun Park and Iraqi-American businessman Samir Vincent, although it said investigations continue.

Kofi Annan, who next week will preside over a large gathering of world leaders to discuss reform, told the Security Council he will not resign and will “get on with my work.”

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Key findings

Paul Volcker’s oil-for-food report found:

* Kojo Annan lobbied U.N. officials, including his father’s personal assistant, on behalf of a Swiss firm bidding on a contract.

* Kojo Annan lied to investigators about his U.N. contacts.

* No evidence that Kofi Annan knew his son’s firm, Cotecna, was bidding.

* Russia and China have refused to cooperate with Volcker probe.

* All U.N. agencies and top officials, including the Security Council and secretary-general, share the blame for

poor management of the program.

* Saddam Hussein ripped off $10.2 billion from the program.

* Deputy U.N. Secretary-General Louise Frechette did not adequately oversee the oil-for-food program or report problems to the U.N. Security Council.